Having left the hero business behind, Gar had turned to the world of mass media, deciding to try his hand at becoming an internet celebrity. And to his surprise he became a surefire hit, his youtube channel where he did primarily let’s plays and occasional skits garnering three million subscribers in under two months. Now that number was ten million, each video averaging at around two million views. He was getting offers from other channels and media sites to collaborate and produce more diverse content. Now the former Titan was a popular gamer, movie critic, and now working on what would become a weekly talk show.
It was an odd career turn for a retired crime-fighter, but BB’s charisma and desire for the spotlight made him more appealing than his former partners. He was successful enough to move out, have his own apartment, buy his own studio near the market district, and was even able to buy that moped. The job was what he was working on now. Gar was in the middle of editing his let’s play footage of the game Amnesia: The Dark Descent when his phone sent a short beep to signal a received text message, and fortunately it sounded at a time when no sound was playing. Gar picked it up and slightly frowned when he saw the sender address.
Gar and Terra was sort of an idea that seemed so right that it could never possibly work. Her cautious demeanor could keep Gar grounded, and in turn his confidence could keep the Earth-manipulator in high spirits. But she had a history of running away, followed by a brief stint as a supervillain, and then went into retirement without him, alienating him from a life he probably would have followed her into anyway.
She had told him she wanted no part in the crime-fighting lifestyle, and kept contact with him to a minimum, only accepting his number without sharing hers. But even if BB had gotten her number, he wasn’t sure if he would’ve called much, especially now in retirement. He wasn’t bitter towards her. In fact it was the opposite. It’s just that he constantly pushed those thoughts away, afraid of getting hurt again if he let her get close. He wasn’t sure if he could trust her to stay, even if his job was at home. So hearing from her again was cause for caution. He wasn’t going to just ignore her.
He clicked on the message and for the next few seconds had to try to wrap his mind around this small message. ‘He’s back.’ Who was back? Was this message meant for him? Was there some sort of meaning behind that that only he and her shared, or was this meant for one of her new friends at school? Or was it a new boyfriend? Well that would be perfect, Garfield finding out something like that by mistake.
Putting the phone aside he checked his emails where he got a more direct warning of what was happening. His email was flooded with messages from fans asking about his thoughts on ‘his’ return. As soon as he saw the words in the subject headers he didn’t bother opening any messages. He went straight to news sources and it took a single headline with a thumbnail of the painted Slade insignia was enough to convince him this was not some sort of rumor.
He stared at the image for several moment before snatching his phone. He was about to call the number Terra had given via the text, but had to talk himself out of it. As far as Gar knew the former Titan was still a civilian simply warning him. Exactly how she knew was something he didn’t want to get into. A little voice in the back of his in the back of his head was telling him she may be doing more than just hitting the books. But the changeling knew there was little time to get into that right now. He had to put himself back out there if this threat was real. There was still the possibility that this was just a prank.
Beast Boy hadn’t spoken to his former team leader in some time. There wasn’t any distance between them. It was just that they were both busy with their own lifestyles, Robin especially given his trademark obsessive work ethic. But Gar still had the former boy wonder’s number and was now frantically scrolling through his contacts for it. Rather than call him right away, BB thought it best to simply text him. He never knew if Nightwing was on patrol or in the middle of an operation, any case that would be the worst possible time for a phone call. ‘DUDE IS IT TRUE?!!?!!! WHATS GOING ON NOW??!!!!’
After sending the text to Nightwing, Gar began pacing in his living room, his mind trying to figure out a way to convince him this wasn’t happening. A supervillain busting out of prison wasn’t anything new. Such occurrences were like half their missions! But this was their nemesis, and the Titans had thought the prison was secure. They had never been so certain of anything. But now the top baddie was possibly out and in that case most definitely wanting payback. When that thought popped into his head, Gar instantly decided to hell with awkwardness, he had to get to Terra. He snatched his phone, opened one of the wide windows in the main room, morphed into a peregrine falcon and took off for her school.
((To Murakami High School Classroom 2-B))
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